US 12,189,072 B2
System and method to identify high-impact discrete fracture model realizations for accelerated calibration of reservoir simulation models
Marko Maucec, Englewood, CO (US); and Otto E. Meza Camargo, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Oct. 5, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/063,227.
Prior Publication US 2022/0107433 A1, Apr. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. G01V 1/28 (2006.01); G01V 1/30 (2006.01); G01V 11/00 (2006.01); G01V 20/00 (2024.01); G06F 18/2113 (2023.01); G06F 30/20 (2020.01); G06F 113/08 (2020.01)
CPC G01V 1/282 (2013.01) [G01V 1/302 (2013.01); G01V 1/308 (2013.01); G01V 11/00 (2013.01); G01V 20/00 (2024.01); G06F 18/2113 (2023.01); G06F 30/20 (2020.01); G01V 2210/1234 (2013.01); G01V 2210/6122 (2013.01); G01V 2210/646 (2013.01); G01V 2210/663 (2013.01); G01V 2210/665 (2013.01); G06F 2113/08 (2020.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method to improve production forecasting accuracy for a reservoir, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a seismic dataset of a surveyed subsurface of the reservoir under investigation, the seismic dataset comprising observed pressure and production data of the reservoir as well as a set of geological and geo-mechanical parameters representing physical features of the surveyed subsurface;
generating multiple realizations of a discrete fracture network (DFN) based on a subset of the set of geological and geo-mechanical parameters, wherein the multiple realizations are ranked in a number of quantiles, wherein each quantile represents at least one realization generated based on the subset of geological and geo-mechanical parameters with corresponding parameter values under the quantile of a full range of likely values, wherein the subset of geological and geo-mechanical parameters comprise: a fracture surface area, and a fracture length;
selecting, from the multiple realizations, one or more realizations generated based on the subset of geological and geo-mechanical parameters with corresponding parameter values ranked under a 10% quantile of the full range of likely values;
performing a forward simulation for the reservoir based on the selected one or more realizations and the observed pressure and production data;
in response to determining that a misfit of the forward simulation is reduced below a threshold, producing a 3D model of the reservoir based on the forward simulation; and
applying the 3D model to subsequently model the reservoir with improved production forecasting accuracy by virtue of the reduced misfit.